(KRON) — A Sonoma County choose sentenced a killer to serve 50 years to life in state jail for committing a 2024 homicide in Petaluma.
Paul Coilton, 59, pleaded no contest final month to murdering 49-year-old Steven Edward Lopez, prosecutors mentioned. Coilton was sentenced by Choose Laura Passaglia on Wednesday.
District Legal professional Rodriguez mentioned, “It is incredibly sad to hear the impact that this offense has had on the family members of the victim in this case. This was a senseless tragedy, and hopefully this sentence brings some small measure of closure to the family.”
Coilton shot Lopez 5 occasions and left him dying on the facet of Freeway 116 close to Ernie’s Tin Bar in Petaluma on November 10, 2024, prosecutors mentioned. The sufferer died in an ambulance on his option to a hospital.
Sheriff’s deputies discovered the homicide weapon, a .380 Ruger Safety handgun, on the scene. Investigators discovered surveillance video exhibiting the 2 males loading marijuana into the again of Lopez’s truck simply earlier than the murder.
Twelve hours after Lopez died, deputies noticed Coilton driving the sufferer’s truck in San Jose and arrested him.
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Coilton entered a “no contest” plea on February 6 to first-degree homicide.
The Sonoma County District Legal professional’s Workplace described Coilton as a profession legal. He cycled out and in of prisons for many years, accomplished 5 completely different sentences, and his document dates again to 1983, in accordance with the DA’s workplace.
Regardless of his new prolonged sentence, the 59-year-old inmate could have an opportunity for parole in 20 years due to his age.
The district lawyer’s workplace defined, “Although Coilton was sentenced to a term of 50 years to life in prison, under California’s elder parole statute which was enacted by the California legislature in 2018, Coilton will be eligible for possible release after serving only 20 years of his sentence.”
